Computers, including workstations, personal computers, and, in general, central processing units with associated memory, collectively referred to as "computing element", are commonly interconnected in a network so that they can interact to share information and share in processing information. In many networks the computing elements are permanently physically interconnected on a bus or set of busses. But since only one device can send data on a bus at one time only a limited amount of communication can take place on a single bus. Therefore, in networks having many computing elements it is useful to connect the computing elements to a switch or switch complex where a first computing element can be connected to a second, while a third computing element is connected to a fourth, and so on. In this manner a number of computing elements can communicate simultaneously.
In this arrangement where a switch provides a transmission medium for interconnecting numerous computing elements, the computing elements are connected to the switch by ports. The ports convert data to a physical and logical form suitable for the computing elements and the transmission medium. Ports may also convey information concerning the status of the computing elements and the switch.
The rate at which a port can transfer data varies according to the number of bits the port has, among other things. It is well known to adapt a port by increasing its bit width when necessary to increase the rate of data transfer through the port. There also exists a need to manage the use and adaptation of multiple ports on a computing element.